Prepaid telephone calling cards are known. Cards are batch activated by the card provider in a limited number of predetermined values. Such cards are purchased from vending machines, point of sale terminals, or other distribution centers, in fixed value increments, such as $10, $20, etc. A $10 card, for example, provides the cardholder with $10 worth of telephone time to make telephone calls. If during the call, the time remaining on the card is about to expire, the customer may be prompted that only a certain amount of time remains. When the designated time has expired, the call is automatically terminated. Because charges are limited to the card's face value, neither the customer nor anyone who obtains possession of the card can run up a large bill.
These types of prepaid calling cards have been successful because prepaid calling card customers avoid collect and operator assistance surcharges, and they can obtain local and long distance calling without credit and without payment of monthly bills. Further, no coins are necessary to place a call. Another bonus is that the operator does not have to collect coins from public telephones which also reduces vandalism and theft. However, these prepaid cards have significant drawbacks. Such calling cards are inconvenient because the customer must physically carry the card on his/her person. If the card is forgotten, the customer is further inconvenienced when a call needs to be made. In addition, the prepaid calling cards issued with fixed/preset amounts do not necessarily correspond with the amount of telephone time a user needs or ends up using. If the allotted amount is too little, the customer's call is prematurely terminated. The only solution is for the customer the further inconvenience of carrying multiple cards that also may be stolen or lost. Moreover, if a caller uses less than the alotted amount on the card, the remaining amount may be essentially useless if (1) it is less than the basic amount required to make a particular call or (2) it is so little that the call will be for too short a period of time. Another serious problem is that even the process of obtaining a new card is cumbersome and time consuming because the customer is required to physically travel to a sales office or other distributor where these cards are issued or recharged. Still further are the environmental drawbacks associated with disposing of all the used prepaid calling cards.
Thus there is a need for an improved approach to prepaid telecommunications systems that overcomes these and other problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide prepaid telecommunications services where prepayment (on one or repeated occasions) is easy and quick.
It is another object of the present invention to provide prepaid telecommunications services which can be prepaid using the telecommunications network.
It is another object of the present invention to provide prepaid telecommunications services where prepayment can be made in variable user designated amounts.
It is another object of the present invention to provide prepaid telecommunications services where prepayment of telecommunications services and use of such prepaid telecommunications services does not require cards.
It is a further object of the present invention to eliminate the need for a customer to have to obtain a new or renewed card for continued use of prepay services.
To meet these and other objectives, the present invention takes a completely different approach to providing prepaid telecommunications services. Instead of requiring a customer to carry around one or more cards where the cards are effectively functioning as limited, fixed amounts of money, the present invention provides a network-based solution that facilitates both prepayment and use of telecommunications services. A subscriber is assigned a record in a database. The database record includes an account number and an associated prepaid monetary value. When the subscriber calls from a prepaid telecommunications terminal (e.g., a public telephone), requesting a telecommunications service (e.g., a long distance telephone call), the communications network processes the request by analyzing the subscriber's database record. If the prepaid monetary value in the subscriber's record is sufficient for the requested service, the service is authorized. The prepaid monetary value in the subscriber's record is decreased in accordance with the service rendered. Accordingly, a subscriber does not need to purchase any prepaid calling card, remember to carry the prepaid calling card, or remember the amount stored on the calling card. Rather, prepaid calling services are obtained simply by subscribing to the network prepayment service.
In accordance with the present invention, a subscriber may easily add monetary value to the subscriber's prepaid account. The user simply accesses the prepaid network service (e.g., by dialing the appropriate network service number), and indicates the desire to add monetary value to the subscriber's prepaid account in the database. Once the account and/or caller is/are identified and preferably authenticated, the subscriber is prompted to enter a desired amount of money to be added to the prepaid monetary value field in the subscriber's database record. The amount to be added may be fixed or variably determined by the subscriber. A fixed amount may make prepayment particularly easy since the subscriber could simply call the service and the fact of making the call would add a fixed amount to his prepaid account. The network therefore generates a new prepaid monetary value in the database associated with the prepaid account number. Immediately thereafter, the user can request and receive prepaid telecommunications services without a card and without concern whether a prepaid calling card has sufficient remaining funds to pay for the desired telecommunications service.
Another significant feature of the present invention is that the communications network takes care of generating a billing record for the subscriber which includes the amount of money added to the prepaid monetary value of the database. At the end of a billing cycle when the subscriber receives his regular telephone bill, an entry is included corresponding to the prepaid monetary value added to the subscriber's prepaid account number.
While the present invention may be implemented in a number of different ways, a preferred example embodiment employs an intelligent network. An intelligent network node connected to the communications network provides the prepayment telecommunications service. The intelligent network node includes a service control processor that stores database records assigned to network prepayment service subscribers. Each database record includes a prepaid account number and an associated prepaid monetary value for each network subscriber. A service switching processor, coupled to either directly to the subscriber or to the subscriber's local switch and then to the service control processor, detects and routes calls directed to prepayment of communications services involving network subscribers to the service control processor. The service control processor makes necessary prepayment decisions, e.g., whether the caller has a prepay account, whether the account have sufficient current funds, whether the caller is authorized to alter the account amount, etc. The service control and/or switching processors also coordinate commands to the network, e.g., authorizing a prepaid call, updating billing records, etc.
The intelligent node interfaces with the subscriber over the network using any number of techniques including speech synthesis, speech recognition, DTMF tones, etc. to permit the subscriber to add to the prepaid monetary value associated with the subscriber in the database an amount of money entered by the caller, or alteratively, add a fixed amount per each service call. The newly generated prepaid monetary value in the database associated with a subscriber's prepaid account number can be immediately used to pay for a subsequent prepayment communications service.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a number of advantages to both the telecommunications subscriber and the telecommunications operator. For the telecommunications subscriber, there is no need to buy or renew one or more prepaid calling cards once the call value of an existing card is expired. Therefore, there is no need for the subscriber to travel to a telecommunications sales outlet or other distributor of prepaid calling cards. Significantly, the need for even carrying a card is eliminated. Of course, if desired, a single card having a prepayment network service's telephone number and/or the subscriber's prepaid account number may be issued until such numbers are memorized. Also the subscriber does not need to have cash handy to buy new prepaid calling cards since the prepayment amount requested via telephone is included on the subscriber's monthly telephone bill.
For the telecommunications operator, because the present invention permits a subscriber to always have access to prepaid telecommunications services, prepaid telecommunications services are used more frequently, and therefore, more revenue is generated for the telecommunications operator. By eliminating the need for conventional prepaid calling cards, overhead associated with the manufacture, servicing and distribution of those cards is eliminated. Prepay accounting and administration are considerably reduced since the newly added prepayment value is billed automatically to the subscriber's monthly phone bill. Environmentally, there is not excess waste associated with plastic cards; nor will there be any future problems if companies are ultimately held responsible for disposing of waste associated with their discarded products. Moreover, telecommunications operators also have the option of charging for the prepayment network service itself.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will now be described in more detail below in conjunction with the drawings.